The Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Challenge - Day 3

The theme of the third day of the Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Challenge is 3 favorite songs of 2016.

The first song I like is Heathens by 21 Pilots. On 6 December 2016, "Heathens" received three Grammy nominations: Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Song Written for Visual Media.

Every time I hear this song I think about the men I used to write to who were in prison as part of CLF's Prison Ministry program. A couple of them would share with me what people were like there, how they had to act, and the general atmosphere. There are many parts to this song that echo what they told me.

The second song I like is Handclap by Fitz and the Tantrums. It's one of those songs that I like for its energy. There's a part where the lyrics repeat: "I can make your hands clap." It reminds me of when I worked for the American Composers Forum and there was a performing group that used their bodies for instruments. It was pretty cool to see all the different sounds that could be made with clapping on hands, arms, and legs.

The most recent song that I like is Kids by One Republic. There are parts of the song that I especially like. It's not so much the lyrics with this song. However, as I read the lyrics online, I found these lines interesting:

I refuse to look back thinking days were better
Just because they're younger days
I don't know what's 'round the corner
Way I feel right now I swear we'll never change
Back when we were kids
Swore we would never die
You and me were kids
Swear that we'll never die

Although the lyrics above talk about not looking back on younger days assuming they were better, I would have to disagree. I think of my own childhood and how - in many respects - it was an idyllic world. Not all parts were perfect...there were challenges...but, for the most part, it was certainly an easier world than what we all live in now.

What I do agree with is the part about not knowing what is around the corner. Sometimes it does feel like things will never change...that you can get into a rut or pattern of living that seems endless. Yet, without embracing change, we would never know what's to come and whether it's something that will improve our lives.

The last few lines remind me about how, as kids, we see our lives as unending. Death does not seem real - for ourselves or others. In reality, death is omnipresent...we just may not be aware of it lurking in our lives.

For that reason, it is vitally important to live each day to its fullest and make the world a significantly better place. We each have that responsibility...at least that's what I believe.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Challenge - Day 2

Continuing with The Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Challenge, the second day focuses on two foods that I can't get through Christmas without.

For our family, making desserts is something we enjoy doing during the Christmas season. We have some standard Christmas cookies that we make each year - like Santa Hats and Peppermint Shortbread Cookies.

Then there's a variety of additional new recipes we try. Of course, I didn't take photos of any of them except this cake.

Some we will definitely make again while others we won't. The cake is one we'd make again. It was a hit. It's a white cake mix, but other ingredients are added: like a stick of butter and 1 cup of sour cream. There are eggs in it too.

The frosting is homemade - the primary ingredient is powered sugar.

The marshmallows should have been white - like on a Christmas stocking. The grocery store - interestingly - didn't have white marshmallows the day I went. They had these pink peppermint ones instead. The kids (and young adults) loved the marshmallows...so it all worked out.

The second thing that makes a Christmas dinner is predictability. We know that there will be ham, cheesy potatoes, vegetable casserole, and applesauce. There were also fresh vegetables and dip which was good.

This was the first year that we were at my sister's condo. There's a community/party room there that she reserved. It worked out nicely and everyone could fit comfortably in the room and around the tables.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Challenge - Day 1

Was searching for different challenges and came across The Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Challenge that was done a few years ago. It's not a current challenge, but I liked the idea of it so I thought I'd update the questions to reflect the past and upcoming years.

The first thing to write about on Day 1 is "1 Thing You Got for Christmas."

It actually wasn't a present I received for Christmas. Rather, it was one that I invested in so I could document and remember Christmas as well as people, pets, and things we do in the coming months and years.

Finally, I can take those close-up photos I enjoy. This is Aspen, our American Staffordshire Terrier mixed with a Siberian Husky. She's a great dog. Very loving.

I'm back to being able to take photos of Sophia and Olivia. Now I don't have a big white splotch in the center of the photograph.

Photos of recipes I've tried are clear again.

As are pictures of my family. This is my sister and brother. I'm in the middle in the photo...but the oldest of the three.

I can document the projects that the girls do....like this pillowcase dress that Sophia made for Little Dresses for Africa. The dresses are given to girls who may not have many clothes to wear.

What's also meaningful for me is documenting some of the more difficult memories. In this case, remembering my parents who died on January 5, 2012 and August 15, 2015 (Dad and Mom respectively).

Here the girls have decorated their graves at Fort Snelling.

They decorated both sides - one wreath for each of their grandparents.

The camera also gives me the opportunity to document special occasions - like Sophia's 16th birthday.

It's nice to have a working camera again.

Celebrating Sophia's 15th Adoption Day

2016 marked the 15th anniversary of Sophia's adoption day. It's hard to believe that 15 years have passed since we were in China meeting her for the first time. How quickly the time has passed.

This year, her adoption fell on a Saturday. It was a special day - not only because of her anniversary - but because she was asked to play the harp at a friend's wedding.

We have known Mary for many years now and she is a wonderful friend and so supportive of our family. She was a widow for a long time before meeting Art at our church's Thanksgiving Eve service last year.

Sophia was playing the harp there at the service and Mary wanted to hear Sophia play the harp. Art was at the service and the two met, started talking, and began what was a year-long dating and engagement.

They were married on Thanksgiving weekend - November 26th. This was Sophia's first wedding that she played at which was exciting.

She talked with the pastor who was officiating the ceremony. Tom, the pastor, was one of the pastors when we moved to this area. He and the other co-pastor (also named Tom) came to our home. They were both so engaging and inspiring to talk with. It was nice to be able to have Sophia be at a ceremony that he led.

Sophia played for about a half hour for the prelude and then did a solo during the ceremony.

That afternoon she saw "Fantastic Beasts." In the evening, we ate dinner and open presents.

She received one gift for each year she has been a part of our family.

Many of the items are things that are useful or clothing. One of the items that was more of a non-essential item was a hat she tried on and liked at an antique store.

One of the books she received was about the making of "Fantastic Beasts."

Shadow, one of our oldest cats, was laying on the table watching Sophia open gifts. He has hyperthyroidism and his heart is working extra hard these days. He's lost a lot of weight, but still is able to get around. He no longer can jump up high onto things, so we've had to make some adjustments to help him.

We are so thankful that he is still with us...and still wants to participate in special family celebrations.

Since we didn't go out to eat on Sophia's adoption day, we went out for breakfast at the Lowell Inn on the following morning for Sunday brunch.

I had not been feeling well for about a week, but wanted to celebrate this special milestone.

It was a very nice breakfast with a wide variety of entrees, side dishes, and fresh fruit.

Brunch was served in the George Washington Room. Many of the pictures in the room featured George Washington. The antiques and décor of the room were lovely.

Celebrating Olivia's 13th Adoption Day

Today is the 13th anniversary of Olivia's adoption day.

We started the day by going to see The Christmas Carol at the Guthrie Theater. To get to the theater, you take a steep elevator to the fourth floor.

Once you get there, you can walk to an area that leads to an overlook of the Mississippi River and the Stone Arch Bridge.

It was a beautiful day - warm enough that we didn't have to wear jackets.

For dinner, we had food from the Chinese restaurant.

It was nice to eat at home in a more relaxing and quiet setting.

After dinner, Olivia opened presents.

There is one for each year that she has been a part of our family. All were surprises this year with the exception of the hat that she picked out at Gammelgarden Museum. It's a warm fleece hat with a pretty trim that is perfect for cold, winter days.

Olivia loves doing puzzles and there was one that we found that has different breeds of dogs. It's only a 1,000 piece puzzle (she's currently at 3,000 piece puzzles), but it's sometimes fun to have an easier puzzle to do when the picture is something that you enjoy looking at while you're working on putting the pieces together.

There's a quote on Pinterest that I saw that I liked. I've adapted it to fit Olivia and Sophia:

We have made two people sisters.

Two people will share a childhood because of us.

We have given two people a gift that no one else could: each other.

Sophia and Olivia at the Japanese garden in

San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

October 2016.

Countdown to Halloween - Celebrating Halloween! - Day 7

Halloween was on a Monday this year, and on Tuesday the girls go to a homeschool co-op. We leave the house by 7:50 a.m., so that means that we don't stay up late on Monday nights.

This - combined with blustery/rainy weather - made it a relatively easy decision for them not to go trick-or-treating. This is the first year that they have not gone trick-or-treating since they were little.

What they still wanted to do, however, was participate in the costume parade at the nursing home.

They have been doing this now for a few years and enjoy it. The staff and some of the volunteers dress up; and then walk around and talk with residents. The residents vote on their favorite costumes.

Many of the residents were wearing hats so they could feel like they were dressed up and participating as well which was fun.

The parade takes place in the dining room and quite a few residents - and sometimes their families - enjoy seeing the variety of costumes.

It's fun for the girls to talk with the seniors and hear them share memories or receive compliments on their costumes.

At the end of the parade, those in costumes gather for the annual picture. The costumes this year were impressive - especially the trio from the Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins & the Chimney Sweep. All of them showed a lot of creativity and Halloween spirit!

Since we weren't trick-or-treating, the girls suggested we start a new tradition. They asked for pizza from the local pizza place.

For dessert, we had Lemon Chess Pie (basically a lemon meringue pie without the meringue) that Olivia made.

The recipe came from her Five in a Row cookbook that she is finishing this year.

Countdown to Halloween - Witches - Day 6

For the sixth day of the Countdown to Halloween, the theme was Witches.

I found a pin on Pinterest for Witchy Guacamole Dip that was on Fork and Beans. 

 There are quite a few ingredients - most of which I had on hand. For those I didn't, I just substituted something else that was in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

2 large avocados
¼ red onion, thinly chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 1 lime
sea salt
shredded carrots (for the hair)
2 green olive slices (for the eyes - I used black olives instead)
2 black olive slices (for the eyebrows)
2 slices of a mini red bell pepper (for the lips)
1 cornichon (for the nose)
handful blue corn chips (for the hat)

Directions

In a bowl, mash the avocado. Add the garlic, onions, and lime juice. Mix until well combined. Season with sea salt for flavor.

Add the guacamole to the lower half of a serving plate.

Create the corn chip hat and then add the carrots for the hair.

Assemble the face and serve.

This was a fun dish to prepare and serve. To make it into a dinner (versus snack), I made some taco meat. We put taco chips on our plate and then topped them with the taco meat, dip, and cheese.

Countdown to Halloween - Ghosts - Day 5

One of the recipes that we make each year for the Countdown to Halloween is Boonilla Shakes. It's basically a homemade vanilla shake (vanilla ice cream, vanilla extract, and milk) poured into a glass that has two squirts of chocolate syrup on the side of the glass (to represent the ghost's eyes)

This is something that the girls request, so it has become a family tradition, of sorts, to make it close to Halloween.

I've made ghost-shaped pancakes in the past, but didn't this year. We weren't hungry for a big breakfast, so we opted for a simple one instead.

Countdown to Halloween - Bats and Cobwebs - Day 4

Originally we were going to make chocolate cookies that had a spider design on them (for the cobweb theme). However, we're trying to cut down on the sweets we eat.

So, I ended up making a baked pasta recipe that I found on Pinterest that led to Cleverly Simple.

It's an easy recipe that takes only a little more than a half hour from the preparation to eating. Despite the rather unappealing look to it, it tasted great. The recipe serves six so there was plenty for leftovers the next day.

Ingredients

8 ounce package of bowtie bat pasta
1 pound ground beef
24 ounce jar of pasta sauce
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
8 ounces mozzarella cheese
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring water to a boil and add the bowtie pasta. Cook according to instructions on the box.

Cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic until the beef is no longer pink. Drain.

Add the pasta sauce to the ground beef mixture and simmer.

Once the pasta is ready, drain it, and put the pasta back into the pot. Add the ground beef mixture and half of the mozzarella cheese.

Put everything into a 9x13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Add the rest of the mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheese.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted.

Countdown to Halloween - Pumpkins - Day 3

I made four mini-loaves of pumpkin gingerbread. The recipe came from a pin on Pinterest which led to All Recipes.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

Ingredients

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice cinnamon, and clove.

In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.

This recipe was okay. It wasn't as spiced as we were used to with other pumpkin breads we've made. We all decided that we would stick with the pumpkin spice bread recipe that I've used since I was a teenager. The recipe came from our next door neighbor.

*~*~*~*~*

This year, we didn't go to a pumpkin patch to get larger pumpkins. The girls found two smaller pumpkins in our patch which they felt was enough. They didn't want to carve pumpkins this year which was fine.

They are trying to get caught up with their homeschooling after a one-week vacation. So, I'm okay that they want to do schoolwork versus pumpkin carving. There's always next year.

*~*~*~*~*

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/212795151118650753/
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/180596/stuffed-jack-o-lantern-bell-peppers/

For dinner, I wanted to make the Stuffed Jack O Lantern Bell Peppers. I bought the bell peppers and was ready to use the recipe from the pin I found on Pinterest that led to All Recipes.

However, when I looked more closely at the recipe, I noticed it had a half cup of chili sauce. I knew that Olivia wouldn't eat it; and that I needed to make something more mild.

Ended up using my mom's recipe for stuffed peppers instead of the one on All Recipes.

When preparing the peppers, I boiled them in hot water. When they came out, I realized there was no way in the world I was going to be able to cut the eyes and mouth out of the boiling-hot-peppers and have them look like the photo on Pinterest.

So, we just had the dinner with the plain peppers instead of peppers meant to look like Jack O Lanterns.

*~*~*~*~*

I'm happy that I have recipes that were favorites of mine when I was growing up; and that I'm able to make them for my family now. In some ways, the passing along of traditions and family recipes is more important than needing to try new recipes.

Countdown to Halloween - Monsters - Day 2

For the second day of the Countdown to Halloween, we made Monster Donuts. We had some leftover candy eyes from yesterday's meal, so this was a good way to use up the rest of the package.

The idea came from this pin on Pinterest that led to Your Home-based Mom.

On Your Home-based Mom, the donuts were chocolate. I looked for them ,but couldn't find any plain chocolate donuts. The only chocolate ones they had were already frosted.

So, plain donuts it is for today's recipe.

All you need to make this easy breakfast is donuts, green frosting, and candy eyes.

We spread the frosting on the donuts and added the eyes...and we were ready for breakfast.

Even though the girls are getting older, sometimes it is fun to do unexpected things with meals. I think it is more the tradition of doing the countdown than, perhaps, the actual food that is made. Nonetheless, having these special memories and traditions to look back upon hopefully will make them happy when they are older and reflect back on their childhoods.

Countdown to Halloween - Mummies - Day 1

For the first day of the Countdown to Halloween, we did a mummy theme again this year.

Found a pin on Pinterest for Meatball Mummies that led to Spend with Pennies.

To make six servings of this dinner, you need:

1 roll of prepared pizza dough
18 cooked meatballs (I made homemade meatballs)
6 strands raw spaghetti
12 edible eyeballs
1 tablespoon melted butter (optional - I didn't use)
Pasta Sauce for serving

Now, follow these directions:

Make the meatballs. I do this in the oven, so I kept it on for the next part of the recipe which also calls for a preheated 350 degree oven.

Cut the pizza dough into thin strips (about ¼" wide).

Thread 3 meatballs onto a strand of spaghetti to hold them in place. As a side note, because the meatballs were homemade and hot, the spaghetti noodles began to soften. The noodles didn't hold the meatballs in place like they would have had I used frozen, pre-packaged meatballs that were thawed.

At any rate, begin wrapping dough around the meatballs stretching and criss-crossing until the meatballs are covered. Leave a little space open for the eyes.

Remove the spaghetti strand and place the meatball mummy on a parchment-lined pan.

Bake 19-23 minutes or until browned. Remove from oven, brush with melted butter and add the edible eyeballs.

Serve with warm pasta sauce.

This was an easy-to-make dinner and one that we enjoyed.